


Ironically Married

by unluckitty



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Aged Up NCT Dream, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Light Angst, M/M, Marriage, Married Life, Minor Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Qian Kun, Queerplatonic Relationships, VERY light i swear, but whats new, i basically made jisung a big ol loser, kunten are married yes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:22:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25585111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unluckitty/pseuds/unluckitty
Summary: "Let's get you to bed then, big baby.""You need sleep too!" Jisung protested but did nothing to resist being pulled to his room. Chenle made a clicking sound."I'll survive. I've had worse sleep schedules before and you know it. You on the other hand, I'm not so sure of," Chenle practically pushed him into his bed as if to say "and stay there". As soon as his head had hit the pillow, the tiredness truly took over Jisung. But just before Chenle closed the door,"And Chenle?" he turned around, light from the living room prettily silhouetting him. "I don't deserve you." Chenle scoffed."Pft, what are we? Marri-" there was a moment of comedic silence, before Jisung burst into laughter and Chenle just shook his head and closed the door.~Fuck it, chenji but they're platonically married.
Relationships: Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le
Comments: 15
Kudos: 69





	Ironically Married

“I’m gonna wait ‘til next April for you to tell me that this is a joke,” Jeno heaved yet another box into the living room, Chenle carrying a smaller one behind him. He placed his on the sofa, taking a moment to wipe the sweat from his forehead. 

“Do you think we’d take a joke _this_ far in?”

“Absolutely.”

“...We probably would though…” Jisung mumbled from pushing a slightly larger one into the house. There was a muffled thump as the box hit the back of the sofa. 

“Not the point,” Chenle waved his hand dismissively before going back to fanning himself. “We’re in this shit for life now.”

“I’ll still wait ‘til April,” Jeno said, carrying another box inside. “How much stuff do you _have?_ ”

“As much as there are boxes of it,” Chenle replied breezily. 

“One could say: a lot.”

“No fucking shit,” Jeno said, the ripping of cardboard and masking tape almost drowning him out.

Perhaps they’d packed these boxes slightly too well, but at least no one had heard broken glass yet. But who were they kidding anyway- it wasn’t as if they owned many glass objects, other than that one crystal glass Chenle’s mum had insisted he brought along as it was somehow a family heir. Jisung never dared touch it in case it shattered with one touch. Even when he used to visit on Saturday evenings when they were younger, he used to be scared to even look at it- Chenle convinced him that it was cursed and magical. Now of course, he knew better, but he still feared that glass to no end. 

“Oh my god...Jisung you didn’t…”

“Did you find him?”

“You brought Waldy?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Who, what, when and why,” Jeno shook out his hair, a concerned look crossing his face. 

“Waldy, waffle machine, a month ago, because I like waffles,” Jisung said matter-of-factly. 

“ _No one_ questions Waldy,” Chenle’s head popped out from behind a bigger box. “He produces waffles; compared to him you are nothing,” he said in a completely straight face, blowing the hair from his eyes. One of these days he would get a haircut, and he was planning for that day to be in the far future. 

Despite the fact that there were still a couple more boxes to move in, Jisung went over and organised his hair, gently blowing off some dust from the top of his head. 

“Old meme,” he grinned and dashed out before Chenle could even attempt to throw a punch on his arm. Jeno stood by, rolling his eyes and ripping open a box too. 

“Have you two christened any other inanimate kitchen objects?”

“Well…” Chenle dragged on, “I think we named an old kitchen timer Eggbert, because it was a chicken. Is that right, Jisung?” He called into the corridor outside. It was followed by a loud groan and laughter from Jeno’s side. 

“This box _has_ to be yours- it’s so damn heavy.”

“No swearing in my household.”

“Fuck you,” sang Jisung as he finally dropped the box in the living room and wiped his hands. “This is the most physical workout I’ve had in the past six months thanks to you.”

“You’re welcome then. Is that all?”

“Jisung and I carried about 80% of the boxes between us- this is forced labour!” Jeno pushed Chenle towards the door despite his screaming protests. 

“Last phase: unpacking,” Chenle announced as the door closed behind Jeno once and for all. 

“Correction: eating,” Jisung slumped onto the sofa and immediately regretted it from the puff of dust it replied with. 

“ _Serves_ you right,” Chenle had pulled out his phone whilst Jisung grumbled, saying he would take a shower. Most of the living room was still covered with boxes, and knowing them, it would probably stay like that for the next month or so. Maybe longer. 

He supposed the rush of excitement had worn off for the most part now- the moments when it had finally sunk in that this was their new shared reality. This was it. 

Chenle had always been quite fond of new beginnings and this was no exception. Surprisingly though, he found himself hoping that this would be one of his last beginnings. To have it any other way would be completely unacceptable- to spend the rest of his life with anyone else was unthinkable. No; neither of them would ever take such an offer even if it earned them a billion dollars. Never. 

“Uh, Chenle,” Jisung poked his head around the corner of the bathroom door. “...I may have realised...” he trailed off, hoping Chenle would say it to save him from the embarrassment. But alas, Chenle merely stared at him as if to say “go on, admit it” knowing full well what he was going to say. 

“...I may have forgotten to unpack the suitcase first and now I don’t have clothes. Or a towel for that matter but I think the bathroom mat is the same material anyway.” If it wasn’t already obvious that this was Jisung’s first time living without his parents, it was glaringly obvious now. 

“I had my clothes for myself on the bed but I’ll get them…” Chenle sighed and reluctantly got up from his surprisingly comfortable position lying on the tabletop. 

“You better!”

“Hmm,” he replied, throwing his hoodie and shorts across the corridor. “I’ll have to do everything around here, I see.”

“We’ll see about that!” came Jisung’s muffled voice- apparently the walls were a tad bit thin here. 

“Park Jisung, I have absolutely no faith that that claim will last more than a day.”

“Bet.”

“No.”

“You just don’t wanna lose,” Jisung said, emerging from the bathroom and roughly combing his hair with his fingers, towel wrapped around his waist. 

“ _You just don’t wanna lose,”_ Chenle repeated mockingly earning himself a frown and a finger gun accompanied by a rather sad ‘pew pew’ sound effect. Just then, the doorbell rang. 

“You pay. I ordered,” Chenle immediately said, retreating into his bedroom to unpack more clothes for himself now. Jisung whined in protest but gave in anyway.

“Good evening. Did you two just move in?” wasn’t quite what Jisung was expecting to hear when he opened the door. He also wasn’t quite expecting to see a not-delivery person dressed in basically pajamas to be knocking at their door. 

“Uh. Yes. And you are?”

“Qian Kun, I live next door.” God, _this_ sort of business. “I noticed the moving truck outside and saw a bunch of boxes here earlier.”

“Ah. Yes.”

“So...you are…?”

“I’m Park Jisung.”

“I don’t smell chicken, what's happening?” Chenle walked out from his bedroom, a curious look crossing his face then. 

“I’m Kun, your neighbour. And you’re?”

“Oh, I’m Chenle.”

“I see. And you two are roommates, I take?” The pair exchanged at first shocked then panicked glances before Chenle’s senses kicked back in. It was a simple enough question, right?

“Actually we’re married-” he started. 

“-but like, platonically. But roommates works too I guess?” Jisung looked to Chenle for confirmation but only got a blank, wide eyed gaze back. Kun started to nod slowly. 

“I see. That’s a good idea,” he smiled politely at the both of them. Jisung just hoped he wouldn’t be able to see their hearts basically jumping out of their chest from the anxiety of saying this out loud in front of a stranger. Or just...speaking to a stranger in general. But at last, the delivery arrived and gave them an excuse to say a stiff goodbye. 

Once the door closed on them and the chicken was safely on the table, Jisung collapsed onto the sofa. 

“That was _fun_.”

“For _sure_ ,” Chenle distributed the chicken between the two of them, sitting at the other end of the sofa so that Jisung’s feet were on his lap. “Seems like a decent person though.”

“ _That_ was scary,” Jisung lay back. 

“This was your idea,” Chenle said through a mouthful. “We legally didn’t have to move in together.”

“...and yet we did anyway.”

“Indeed,” Chenle sighed, one hand on his phone and the other holding a chicken wing. The pair sat in silence, not exactly caring about crumbs getting on the sofa anymore ( _that_ was a claim they both agreed wouldn’t last a day). 

Quite soon, the box finished and Jisung had conveniently fallen asleep after agreeing to unpack more boxes. _Typical_ , thought Chenle as he packed up the scraps to throw away. But still, the boxes wouldn’t run away overnight. He placed the other sofa pillow on Jisung’s chest, getting a murmur of thanks and that familiar soft smile. Unchanging. 

The first thought that popped into Chenle’s head as soon as he woke up was: _why are those boxes staring at me?_ The second one was _why is Jisung making so much noise?_

“Our sofa is surprisingly comfortable.” Third thought: _oh my god, this is real. Our. Oh my god._

“The fact that you’ve made my morning coffee for me doesn’t distract from the fact you haven't touched a box since yesterday,” Chenle croaked, sitting at the dining table (on a chair this time) whilst Jisung tinkered with the stove, yelping as the stove did what a stove does. He took a sip, still staring at Jisung with as blank of an expression as he could manage in the morning. At that point, he was past being concerned and more expectantly waiting on disaster. 

“You might not wanna try anything in there whilst there’s dry cardboard boxes everywhere,” he said, taking another sip before heading to the bathroom to wash his face. 

“New life, new me. I gotta learn at some point any- ah!” he yelped again as a droplet of boiling water splattered out of the pan. 

“Or...you could’ve unpacked the kettle in the box labeled ‘kitchen’,” Chenle sighed, studying himself in the mirror- mainly for himself more than anything. There was one final crackle from the stove and a sigh. 

“I couldn’t find the boxcutter,” he admitted, and Chenle couldn’t help but burst into laughter at that. 

“What a dumbass.”

“You- I-”

“Yeah exactly, you didn’t even _touch_ the boxcutter yesterday,” Chenle rolled his eyes, satisfied with his appearance and went to fetch it from one of the already opened boxes. Placing it on the table, he took another sip of the coffee- just how he liked it. 

“At least I carried in more than you!” Jisung retorted, giving up with the stove and settling for convenience store biscuits they’d gotten from the petrol station on the way here. He sat down opposite Chenle and gave him a look as if to say “your turn now”. But Chenle just shook his head and continued to drink, avoiding eye contact as usual. 

“Thanks for this though,” he finally said, setting the mug down and grabbing the boxcutter. “Don’t know how you managed to make it without a kettle or getting the stove to work though.” Jisung shrugged. 

“It knew I was making it for you so it decided to work I guess. But you’ll know if or when we both die of gas poisoning,” he gave an exaggerated grin.

A couple hours of wandering through the area later, they found themselves in a small library down the road, opposite a park. 

“You could come here during the day to work if you want, Jisung,” Chenle at least attempted to whisper. Neither of them were particularly fond of reading much these days, although there was an incident when they were younger when Jisung accidentally dropped a book from a higher shelf onto Chenle’s head when he was reading- to this day he insisted libraries were a curse to him. 

“Too troublesome,” Jisung replied, slotting some book he’d barely skimmed the blurb of back on the shelf. “Home is best.”

“You do realise I won’t be there most of the time anyway?”

“Exactly,” he said without missing a beat. He had to practically run to the exit to avoid getting hit, although once they got out and let out the pent up laughter, he wouldn’t have had it any other way. 

“Well this is cosy,” Chenle commented as they entered the cafe upstairs. “You could-”

“I know very well what I could do,” Jisung interrupted, casting a small frown at Chenle who merely grinned. “You hungry?” The menu offered a variety of cakes and drinks, but as with any town cafe they were probably overpriced as hell.

“Always. Please assume I’m hungry always.”

“Then you pay. I didn’t bring my wallet out.”

“...never mind, I’m never hungry ever,” Chenle dragged the two of them out, spluttering with laughter again. 

“If my time goes by this fast whenever I’m with you then I’ll be dead in a week,” Jisung thought, snapping the obligatory “strolling through our neighbourhood park for the first time” picture of Chenle; it would be the first decent picture he’d gotten of him in the past three months at least (the rest were all memes). 

“It better not be a selfie!” Chenle bounded up to him and took the phone from him. “Not bad, not bad at all. You want one?” Jisung shook his head, continuing to walk and Chenle naturally following behind. 

“I look bad today.”

“Today?” Chenle cast a cheeky glance at him, kicking the gravel on the path into the grass. 

“Oi! Worse _than usual_ then,” he compromised. They walked a couple steps more before Chenle murmured, 

“Just kidding. You’re naturally good looking anyway.”

“Huh?”

“You’re not so bad looking. Wanna go back now?”

They arrived back fairly late; sunlight streaming prettily through the window into the living room and kitchen area. Jisung tossed aside his bag and headed straight to his room. 

“Dibs on showering first. It was damn hot today.”

“...hot damn,” Chenle commented offhandedly putting away the extra groceries they’d stopped by to get just now. Yet another pack of cookies, a toothbrush because Jisung had somehow lost his, a sponge, and cereal. They would probably finish the food items in the next day or two.

“Call the police and the fireman,” Jisung sang along. That morning they’d done the majority of the unpacking (snacking in between boxes) but by “unpacking” he meant...everything was roughly where it should’ve been. But in no way was it ordered or organised. 

“Good talk,” he said, and Chenle could sense the exaggerated pout in his voice when he hadn’t finished the lyrics. “But where are my socks?”

“Hm. Somewhere in this vicinity, I’d assume,” Chenle took a glance around the living room before ripping the new packet of cookies open and sneaking one. “Check my wardrobe.”

“Why would they be there?”

“Just check.” And a little while later, Jisung emerged from Chenle’s room, socks in hand. 

“I told you so.”

“Did _I_ put them there?” he asked, heading to the bathroom. Chenle shrugged. 

“Probably. God knows I wouldn’t mistake your stinky socks for mine.”

“Don’t act like yours aren’t any worse.”

“Jisung, I rarely even wear socks. I don’t think I even brought any,” Chenle tried to reason, digging through a final box labelled “whatever, wherever”. He mentally thanked past him for labelling it so infuriatingly vaguely, but to be fair the items inside really were random: one of Jisung’s final art exam pieces that his mum insisted he kept, a table clock, and a couple stuffed animals that honestly neither of them knew where they got, why they got and who owned them.

“Well, they’re mine now,” Chenle thought, throwing them in the general direction of his room. “A clock? Who cares about _time_?”

“You have a point. But it’s not a good one,” Jisung called over the shower’s woosh. “God, _where’s the shampoo_? And don’t you dare say you don’t even use it because…” he trailed off, and Chenle giggled to himself; crashing of various bottles from inside the bathroom was a little amusing. 

“Because what?”

“Never mind! Why was it by the sink…”

“Because what?” Chenle tried again, making his own little racket in the living room. 

“What did you say?” the noises from the shower were too loud now, and an active construction site nearby wasn’t helping.

“Never mind.”

Blasting their favourite songs through speakers may not have made organising the clutter any easier, but it at least certainly made it more fun. Other than a dinner break (take out, again. Paid by Jisung, again) they’d at least been attempting to put things away that they’d procrastinated on in the afternoon by instead going out. So far, it had been...an attempt. When they weren’t trying to work out who owned something and where they should even put it (sometimes even debating why they brought it), they were singing along to whatever was playing, probably disturbing poor Kun. 

“I literally haven’t heard this song since highschool,” Jisung said, passing the toaster to Chenle- now _that_ was a kitchen appliance he could use. Use _safely_ was questionable, but still, he could use it. 

“Ahh the nostalgia,” Chenle breathed. “The better times.”

“Truly. But to be fair, life _is_ pretty good right now.”

“Great, you’ve jinxed it.”

“No!” Chenle shook his head, automatically claiming a lava lamp both of them forgot they packed and taking it to his room. 

“Everything you say is a curse to humanity.”

“Zhong Chenle.” Funnily enough, the song ended just then and there was cricket silence throughout the house. 

“You’re not funny at all, Jisung,” came Chenle’s voice at last when he headed back to the living room.

“Thanks, I try.” And it was back to attempting to organise. 

They’d mostly finished business late in the night (mostly finished as in given up), but rather than cricket silence, there was now a very comforting blanket of silence. The peace in knowing the other was just a room away. But peace only lasts so long in this household, apparently. 

About half an hour after they’d said good night and gone to their rooms, Jisung cracked open Chenle’s door and trudged to his bed where he was sat scrolling on his phone. Naturally, he shuffled over to make room, not at all surprised at the sudden weight on his left shoulder. 

“What’s everyone else doing?” Jisung yawned, snuggling himself in the blanket. Chenle shrugged, showing him the screen and scrolling a bit. He put his phone away, slinging an arm around his shoulders. 

“How’d you know I’d be awake?”

“You always do final social media checks before bed.”

“And why do you think we have separate rooms and both rooms have specifically _single_ beds?”

“....look-”

“I know you couldn’t sleep. But does that mean we _both_ have to suffer as a result?”

“C’mon,” Jisung gently took a jab at Chenle’s side. “We’ve shared a sleeping bag before.”

“Yeah, when we were both a lot smaller.”

“Just for tonight? My room feels so big.” Despite the fact that Chenle was now lying facing away from Jisung, he could still hear the natural pout in his voice. He’d always do that unknowingly when he wanted something, and somehow it worked every time. 

“They’re the same size.” A small silence. And then Chenle sighed, Jisung immediately settling in and taking the other pillow. 

“Just for tonight then.”

And even when the alarm rang bright and early the following morning, Jisung barely flinched. He merely muttered something in his sleep as Chenle groaned, reaching onto the floor to turn it off. He immediately flopped back into bed, just for the comfort rather than to sleep. It wasn’t like he could afford to sleep anymore anyway (quite literally; afford). 

_The joys of being an adult_ , he thought, leaving Jisung to sleep longer and stumbling to the bathroom before a quick granola bar breakfast and it would be out the door for work.

“Will I get tired of this? Will there be a day when I eventually get sick of him?” Dark thoughts to match the sky. God damn, it was early. He spit out the toothpaste roughly, doing a quick comb through his hair. He was beginning to regret dyeing it so much in college- it would take ages for it to get back to how it used to be. But, the bright green hair was worth it, aside from the fact that it was technically a dare he could’ve refused. 

Now awake enough he padded back to his room to change, Jisung still quite asleep. 

“As he will be for the next three hours I bet,” Chenle smiled unknowingly fondly at him, pulling out whatever clothes were easiest from his closet. He must’ve closed the door a little too loudly though, from an annoyed mumble and stirring of blanket. 

“Work?” Jisung tried to sit up but couldn’t be bothered. 

“Yeah. Go sleep more.”

“Hm. Good luck,” Jisung croaked, flipping over to his other side and savouring having the whole pillow to himself. Just as Chenle finished getting changed, he sat up properly and took a good look around the room. 

“This...this isn’t my room.”

“Who’s fault is that, huh?” Chenle studied himself in his standing mirror. 

“Probably mine,” Jisung said looking down at the blankets. “Everything is always my fault.” Chenle sighed, straightening up a collar that was going to get not-so-straight within the next hour anyway. 

“Sleep. It’s too early for you.”

“But you’re up. I wanna be up too.”

“You don’t, but I appreciate that,” Chenle said, about to head out the door. 

“I wanna hug.” Jisung lazily opened his arms out and made grabby hands in Chenle’s direction. He still felt like a zombie after being woken up at such an early hour, and probably looked like it too. Chenle rolled his eyes and reached over the bed, loosely wrapping his arms around Jisung who’s grip was unusually tight that morning. 

“Hmm. Your chest is so cosy,” Jisung hummed, eyes now starting to close. Chenle gently pushed him back onto his bed. 

“Work hard later. See ya.”

Jisung swore he only closed his eyes for half an hour more, yet when he next opened them, his phone practically shouted in his face “It’s noon, what are you _doing_ with your life”. 

“My best, okay?” he begrudgingly swung out of bed. Just as he popped some bread into the toaster (breakfast is the one meal you can have at any time of the day), there was a quiet knock on the door. 

“Good morni- woah.” Somehow unsurprisingly, it was Kun standing on the other side of the door. 

“G’morning, Kun.” 

“...you-”

“I just woke up.”

“I see.” There was an awkward silence. “Do you want me to come back later? I was going to invite you over for lunch but…” Kun eyed him up and down, though not judgmentally. Rather, the corners of his lips gently tugged into a smile. “I can wait if you-”

“I’ll change and eat some toast since it’s already in the making.” _Sometimes I forget the world has not-Chenles,_ Jisung thought, regretting how dreadfully awkward he was. 

“Alright! I’ll come back in 15 then!” Kun grinned. It was comforting that it didn’t seem forced, at least to Jisung. 

A little more than 15 minutes later and Jisung was seated on a picnic blanket, in an unfamiliar living room with a mug of tea being offered to him. 

“Hope you like earl grey, ‘cause that’s all I got right now,” Kun said, setting down a tray with other goodies on it. 

“Never tried,” Jisung eyed it suspiciously to Kun’s amusement. 

“Well, it has caffeine. Less than coffee, but it’s good enough for an afternoon.” At that, Jisung took a sip, flinching at how hot it still was. 

“Would be nice if I could tell what it tasted like,” Jisung stuck his tongue out and fanned it. Kun blew on his mug a little and also took a sip. 

“For your information, it tastes exactly how you’d expect it to taste. But anyways, I don’t mean to pry but where was Chenle?” 

“At work,” Jisung answered once his tongue had stopped stinging. Kun’s mouth made an ‘o’ shape. 

“What does he work as?”

“He works in retail. I admire his strength a lot.” Jisung blew excessively on his mug and took another sip ( _Who would’ve thought- it tastes exactly how I expected it to_ , he thought _)._

“I can tell. And are you working then?”

“I uh...write. Or at least try to. I take the odd job occasionally too, for the money,” Jisung helped himself to a slice of pizza ( _Wouldn’t be surprised if it was home-made)_. “It’s been hard these days but I’m already too far in to scrap it completely.”

“Ooh, I know that feeling. I make music so I get that a lot. You just gotta power through it and go all in,” Kun nodded, vaguely gesturing to match his words. “I’m lucky enough to have a small home studio that I do most of my work in. Though my husband, Ten, is constantly nagging at me to get some better sound proofing for it. Whenever he’s on a business trip like now...the _peace_ in this apartment…” Jisung took in the soft smile as Kun mentioned Ten.

They continued to eat and talk for the next couple hours or so, the picnic blanket in fact quite comfortable especially when surrounded by pillows and blankets. In Kun’s words: “We couldn’t choose what table and chairs to get so we saved some money and used this instead.” 

He was also gracious enough to let Jisung tinker around with the studio (with much needed supervision, of course). 

“So, how did you two come to the agreement?” Kun asked tentatively, adjusting some sliders back to their original positions. “Childhood pact or…?”

“I think it started off as more of a joke but the more we thought about it the more we actually thought it could be feasible. I mean, neither of us would want to spend our lives with anyone else. It wasn’t so hard,” Jisung shrugged, as if it were no big deal. 

“Ah,” Kun nodded. “Connections like that are hard to find- take that from me. Hold onto them tight. God, that makes me sound old,” he chuckled to himself. 

“Aren’t you though?” Jisung joked, still messing around with the midi keyboard. Kun rolled his eyes. 

“And maybe I am. You’ll be one day as well. Just don’t let that day be any time soon.”

Jisung was probably over-worrying as usual, but just why had Chenle not arrived back yet? He glanced at the clock for the fifth time in the past fifteen minutes, words refusing to transfer from brain to page. Until at last:

“Not that I advocate you starve, but I hope you haven’t eaten yet ‘cause I brought your favourite…” a familiar voice to match a familiar face made Jisung let go a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He immediately rushed to the door, first hugging Chenle and then taking the bag. 

“Have you eaten yet though?” Chenle shrugged, taking off his jacket and heading straight for his room. 

“Not yet. Don’t wait for me though- like I said, I don’t advocate you starving.” Jisung grinned to himself as Chenle went out of view. He separated the food into two dishes, keeping one in the microwave to number one: keep it warm and number two: not tempt him to eat more than he should. 

“Thank you Chenle!”

“Hm,” he hummed in reply. “Enjoy it. You probably deserve it anyway.”

After dinner it was back to attempting to write at least a bit more for Jisung, whilst Chenle had headphones in, occasionally giggling at his screen. He sighed for the seventh time (who was keeping count?), laying his head on the desk. He could’ve probably just fallen asleep there and then if it hadn’t been for Chenle poking him on the arm. 

“Oi. You have a bedroom for a reason.” Jisung sat up, but lay on top of Chenle’s hand instead. 

“Aren’t you tired?”

“I should be asking you that. Did you do anything out of the usual today?”

“Ate lunch at Kun’s place. Chit-chat. He’s nice but now I’m sorta drained…” Chenle clicked off of something on his laptop, then firmly closed Jisung’s laptop too. 

“Let’s get you to bed then, big baby.”

“You need sleep too!” Jisung protested but did nothing to resist being pulled to his room. Chenle made a clicking sound. 

“I’ll survive. I’ve had worse sleep schedules before and you know it. You on the other hand, I’m not so sure of,” Chenle practically pushed him into his bed as if to say “and stay there”. As soon as his head had hit the pillow, the tiredness truly took over Jisung. But just before Chenle closed the door,

“And Chenle?” he turned around, light from the living room prettily silhouetting him. “I don’t deserve you.” Chenle scoffed.

“Pft, what are we? Marri-” there was a moment of comedic silence, before Jisung burst into laughter and Chenle just shook his head and closed the door. 

Thankfully, Jisung had woken up earlier the next day. Or at least, early enough to snag a little working time before Jeno and Donghyuck visited later (the working time with which he did anything _but_ work). Donghyuck had texted them this morning saying he would be bringing a “surprise” with him, but knowing Donghyuck, the surprise would either be questionable or disastrous, and Jisung couldn’t decide which one was better. Despite the asking, he’d remained insistent on keeping it a secret- a surprise in itself. 

_I mean_

_As long as he doesn’t wreck the house before we get to_

Chenle had replied to him on private messages. Jisung shook his head, wearing a fond smile, and was just about to put his phone away so he could concentrate before another vibration came in. 

_Which may or may not be likely_

_What lmao_

_Dw you’ll like the surprise_

_You know it???_

_Chenle???_

_Bruh_

_Acc no get back to work get that bread_

And just then, the doorbell rang. 

“Speak of the devil,” Jisung said to himself as he went to fetch the door. 

If there was to be a day where he wasn’t greeted by an unexpected being at the door, it wasn’t today. A medium sized flurry of whiteness jumped at him, nearly giving him a heart attack but soon he realised that this big flurry thing had a face. And definitely a tongue. 

“I tried to stop him,” Jeno said apologetically, but wasn’t hiding his amusement very well. Donghyuck grinned proudly, not even batting an eye. 

“Isn’t she lovely?”

“...yeah, totally,” Jisung struggled to get out, but eventually managed to push her off and patted his jeans down. They were going to have to do _a lot_ of vacuuming tonight. 

Jisung absentmindedly patted the dog, chatting about whatever life had thrown at any of them. Now over from the initial shock, he could probably get used to this, if only Chenle were here too. 

“How’s the married life then, Jisung?” Donghyuck almost jokingly said suddenly, coaxing the dog back to him. 

“I _still_ feel like this is a joke,” Jeno slouched back. “Was this to prove some sort of point? Because god damn, I have no idea what it is.”

“What makes you think that?” Jisung genuinely asked, not exactly sure how to reply to that. 

“Did you two make like a pact or something? Back when you were kids? You know that old story…”

“Why does everyone think that?” Jisung said, not-so subtly battling with Donghyuck to see who could get the most attention from the dog. “Is it that shocking?” Jeno shrugged. 

“I don’t know...I guess to us it might be since we haven’t known you two for as long maybe.” Donghyuck nodded in agreement. 

“That, and also the way you two are already borderline actual couple.”

“Uh- I- what?” Jisung jerked his head up. 

“Yeah? Have you never thought of it?” Donghyuck asked, both out of curiosity and shock. Jisung ducked his head down again. 

“I mean...I’ve entertained the idea a couple times. Just one of those wandering trains of thoughts,” he scratched the back of his neck, almost seeming to visibly shrink. Jeno cleared his throat. 

“As long as you two are happy. But anyway-” Jisung breathed a sigh of relief at the change of subject. But at the same time, a little thought grew at the back of his mind: he had nothing to be ashamed about. And yet why was he nervous? 

“Welcome home,” Jisung said, mouthful of instant ramen. Chenle sighed. “Bad day today?” No answer- just a feeble smile and sniff at the ramen. “Want some? I can make more.”

“That would be much appreciated. But I don’t think a bowl of ramen will make me feel any better.” Jisung pouted, getting up and heading to the kitchen despite his bowl having only a couple mouthfuls left anyway. 

“You know what would make you feel better? A dog,” he half-jokingly said. 

“I told you you’d like the surprise,” Chenle rested his shoulder at the entrance of the kitchen. 

“Too bad you weren’t there though. We should get a dog, wouldn’t that be cool?” No answer. “Chenle?”

“Later, Jisung.” And he left it at that until Chenle was seated opposite him, a used-to-be-steaming bowl of ramen in front of him. 

“So, about the pet…”

“What about a pet?” Chenle said between slurps. Jisung clicked his tongue and focused back on his screen. 

“Another day. You’re tired.”

“You’re gonna keep asking me this for the next month, aren't you?” Chenle ate a mouthful and leaned back, looking at him square in the eye. Jisung’s eyes shifted and he gave a tiny nod. “It’s too much work. At this point, no. But in the future, maybe.”

“How far into the future?” Jisung said with hopeful eyes. 

“...the future,” Chenle raised both his eyebrows with an exaggerated smile, and immediately reverted back to his resting face. Jisung took a moment to think. 

“What was bad about your day? Rant hours time,” he poked at Chenle’s hand resting on the table. 

“The day in general...was shit. I wanna quit.”

“Then quit,” Jisung said quite matter-of-factly, making Chenle giggle. If he were honest, to Jisung that sound coloured the so far tense atmosphere warm shades of pink. 

“It’s not that simple. But thanks for the advice bud,” he slapped Jisung’s arm playfully. They were both silent for a moment. 

“You took music in high school right? Kun showed me around his home studio the other day- maybe we can go over again this weekend.” Chenle chewed his ramen thoughtfully.

“I mean...I’ve always liked it. But never considered it as a career path necessarily.”

“Think about it. You make good decisions when it comes to these types of things,” Jisung said confidently. Chenle sighed. 

“I’m not as spontaneous as you, in that way.”

“Which isn’t a bad thing. Sometimes it’s good to be more head than heart. What’s the worst that could happen?” 

“My optimism has rubbed off on you, I see. I’ll think,” Chenle took one final slurp of ramen, smacking his lips and yawning. Jisung shrugged. 

“I can’t expect you to think positively about everything. There’s a time and place.” The kitchen tap drowned out the last part, but Chenle nodded, and nothing more was said. 

Strangely enough, despite how tired he was, it was a sleepless night for Chenle. Thoughts trickled in, his mind subconsciously turning each one over before deciding whether or not it was worth contemplating. And so far, they’d all passed. “ _Am I letting anyone down if I do this?”_ was one of the first ones. “ _Parents...they’d trust me, wouldn’t they? Maybe. Probably. Hard to say,_ ” he sighed, flipping to his other side again. He may have just been imagining it, but Jisung’s gentle snores through the wall somewhat comforted him. It fought with his thoughts, one setting him to sleep and the other trying to keep him awake.

"Imagine if I became a vlogger or something," Jisung chuckled to himself as he aimlessly strolled through town the next afternoon. Some fresh air was desperately needed, because as quiet and perfect their apartment was, after being in there for a day or two, you can’t breathe.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures, and modern problems require modern solutions," he muttered under his breath, gazing at shop windows, until he came across one of those knock-off jewelry shops. Thinking he probably had nothing else better to do (which was a complete lie he was well-aware of) some simple chain bracelets caught his eye. He turned one over, glittering fake diamond almost hypnotising him. And before he’d properly thought through it, he’d paid for two, walking out of the shop with one on his wrist. 

Predictably, the first place Chenle went straight to his room after arriving back, although sparing a quick “what are you doing?” to Jisung and not waiting for an answer because it was the same everyday: “I don’t know”. Although this time, he emerged half-dressed, clutching the bracelet Jisung had put on his bed, still in it’s box. 

“Is this your-” he started, but a similar glimmer from Jisung’s wrist stopped him. He glanced at the bracelet, then at Jisung staring at him expectantly from his usual place at the dining table, and then at the bracelet again. “It’s for me?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I felt like it,” Jisung answered without missing a beat. Chenle blinked a couple times. 

“You didn’t have to,” he said blankly. 

“But I did anyway. Do you like it?” Jisung hoped he wouldn’t notice his breath hitching. Chenle glanced back to the bracelet now, before slipping it on. 

“It’s pretty. But you didn’t have to,” he repeated, taking his clothes to the bathroom. 

“But I did anyway!” Jisung sang. “It’s the least I would give you,” he murmured once Chenle was out of range, settling back in front of his laptop screen. 

Chenle shook out a couple droplets of water from his hair, digging into some leftover pasta that had been in the fridge since moving in. Food poisoning wasn’t of concern any more- or at least, it would probably be welcomed. 

“Have you eaten?” he asked, a keen ear catching Jisung’s stomach grumbling. Without waiting for an answer, he fed a spoonful to him, which he took gratefully. “Eat something.”

“I was gonna eat the pasta actually,” Jisung hesitantly said. “But it’s okay! You can have it,” he rushed on, gesturing for him to eat after being offered another bite. Chenle pushed the bowl towards him. 

“Take a break now.”

“I practically took a break the whole day,” Jisung whined. “I can think now so I need to take advantage of it!”

“You can think? Wow, never knew,” Chenle scoffed, sitting back and sneaking one final bite before pushing the bowl right into Jisung’s arm. 

“Yeah, it’s really funny actually how rare it is that I _think_ when you’re around. I wonder why,” he reluctantly nibbled a piece of pasta. 

“We have two braincells and I have them both, that’s why,” Chenle nodded smugly. 

“If you say so,” Jisung squinted at him. “You know, you could have a _third_ braincell if we had...say a pet,” he added half-jokingly. Chenle sighed. 

“The future, Jisung. In the future when we’re capable of properly taking care of one.” 

“When in the future?” he pouted, at this point nearly clearing the bowl. He didn’t know he was this hungry until now. 

“You know the answer to that,” he got up, giving Jisung a pat on the back. “I might just sleep soon.”

“Up to you. Think about it!” he called after Chenle. 

“You too!”

Jisung sighed, staring at the window on the opposite side of the room and watching the raindrops trickle down. They’d been trying to race each other for the past few hours, and somehow it never got boring. Or maybe in his case, it was just more exciting than whatever he was supposed to be doing. He glanced at the clock- only 4pm. Just an hour more. Just as he peeled his eyes away from the window again, a series of firm knocks at his door nearly made him jump out his chair.

“Not to be rude, but what do you wa- oh.” Not only was Kun standing there, but a shorter, unfamiliar person too. A ring glittered on both their hands. 

“I’ve been dragged here to say hi, so here I am, saying hi. I’m Ten.” Said shorter, unfamiliar person held out a hand, and Jisung very suspiciously took it, a satisfied Kun standing a little behind Ten. 

“Kun’s told me about you.”

“Ah, really?” Ten said almost sarcastically, a blush starting to form on Kun’s cheeks. 

“Chenle isn’t home yet, if you were wondering. You probably came to see him anyway,” Jisung turned to Kun, internally laughing at his embarrassment. He straightened up again, clearing his throat. 

“That’s okay! Maybe some other time then,” he grinned, genuinely. 

“Have a good evening then, you two,” and Jisung closed the door, giggling and shaking his head as he walked back to the dining table. 

Not even a paragraph later, the door was kicked open, a dark-faced Chenle shaking out his hair before entering. 

“Damn, you just missed seeing Kun and Ten,” Jisung commented. “You need a towel?”

“I’ll shower, it’s fine,” Chenle heaved a sigh. 

“The rain is really pounding down today.”

“Hm. Good for it.” Jisung’s eyes followed Chenle, his chest emptying at his clearly bad mood. 

“Is there anything you want me to do?” No answer. “Chenle? I may know you better than anyone else but I still can’t read your mind sometimes.”

“No. And I’m sorry,” Chenle answered, voice hollow. Just after shaking out the last droplets, he was met with a towel gently massaging his head. 

“Why?”

“You deserve better than me in a bad mood every other day ‘cause of something out of my control,” his muffled voice came from under the towel. His eyes peered out and met Jisung’s: wide and inviting. Jisung ruffled his hair roughly with the towel, Chenle laughing and struggling to get out. 

“I signed up for exactly that, don’t worry,” he eventually let Chenle escape. “I have you and you have me.” He rolled his eyes, collecting his clothes and heading straight to the bathroom. 

“You _and_ your pretty words.” 

Despite the moment of laughter, Chenle’s resting face at the table that evening was as sullen as ever. Jisung made a couple searches, then swiveled his laptop screen to Chenle in hopes of at least a smile- and perhaps something else too. On it; a cat contorted into some sort of shape, trying to catch a feather. 

“The answer is no for now, Jisung,” Chenle said as gently as he could. Which, by Jisung’s recoil, probably wasn’t very gentle at all. 

“Should’ve known,” Jisung clicked his tongue. “You’re so stubborn with these things.” Chenle took a deep breath. 

“It’s not that I don’t want one. It’s that I don’t think we’re capable of properly taking care of one at this moment in time,” his voice slightly louder now, giving up on trying to control himself. “Why can’t you understand that?” A rare uncomfortable silence settled for a moment before Jisung spoke up again, his voice nearly matching Chenle’s in volume. 

“How do you know that? ‘At this moment in time,’” he used air quote marks, “I think it would be beneficial to the both of us.”

“And I acknowledge that.”

“So then why not?”

“I already told you.”

“ _And I-_ ”

“Move out then,” Chenle said, cracking a rash smile. “Get one yourself.” 

Within the next couple seconds, Jisung physically felt a wave of emotions. His eyes widened at first, breath hitching. His arms twitched at his side, just as he regained some control and roughly got up, nearly knocking over his chair in the process and storming to his room. 

“Can you not take a joke over this? Really?” 

“It’s not a very good joke,” Jisung mumbled just loud enough for him to hear, before slamming his door. Chenle shook his head, continuing to eat. 

It’s not the end of the story if someone goes onto the next page before you. 

“Jisung,” Chenle called, knocking his door. “I have food?” There was a very reluctant sigh from the inside, and he had the courtesy to roll his eyes at that. 

“Come in,” came a tired voice. 

“Sorry. I’m sorry,” Chenle said, placing the plate on Jisung’s lap. They were both sat at the edge of his bed, back to the window and shoulders touching.

“You should be. And I should be too, so: I’m sorry,” Jisung breathed after taking a moment to collect himself. “I’m sorry. My mind went into some sort of overdrive and I’m sorry,” the words came out in a rush. Chenle rubbed his back briefly, nodding. 

“What for?”

“For not trusting you, I guess,” Jisung munched on the leftover pasta to distract himself from crying again. “When you suggested I move out, even though I knew it was a joke…” he swallowed, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. Chenle moved some hair away from his face, patting off some tear tracks. 

“Don’t cry over me,” he murmured. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s just-” Jisung took a deep breath whilst Chenle started rubbing his back in small circles now. 

“We’re in this for life. Together. I would never want to change that or have it any other way.”

“I trust that,” Jisung’s voice shook ever-so slightly, as did his shoulders. “And I hope you know it’s the same from me.”

“Of course I know that. I’m not going anywhere, so take a deep breath? Good. You should finish this and go sleep.” Jisung held up the fork to him. “You eat. It’s fine.” He made a whining noise, which Chenle laughed at and suddenly the house had colour again. 

If it hadn’t been for Chenle’s weekend alarm being on (which he’d nearly forgotten to turn on), both of them would’ve woken up at 4pm. Despite Chenle basically kicking down Jisung’s door, nothing even stirred from the bed. And despite just waking up, he had the energy to practically throw himself onto Jisung (still unmoving). 

“This is unfair, why is your bed cosier than mine,” Chenle complained, nearly tempted to just snuggle in and fall asleep again. 

“Hm,” Jisung shuffled over a bit, only to receive a light slap on the shoulder. 

“Get the hell up.”

“I disagree,” he said, turning over to his other side and grabbing at Chenle, who was trying his best to resist anyway. 

“Will you get up if I say we can go visit a shelter or something later?” At that, Jisung sighed contently, rubbing his eyes open and wrapping his arms around Chenle’s waist. 

“That would be nice,” he said softly, nearly endearingly. Chenle rolled his eyes, shaking him more awake. 

“Then get up, idiot,” he mustered the strength to remove Jisung’s grip and stand back up. Jisung sat up and rubbed his eyes some more, whilst Chenle stood by the door. “ _Fully up_. The moment I leave you’re just gonna lie back down.”

“You don’t know that,” Jisung said cheekily as he flopped back down, only to be tackled by Chenle tickling him. “Okay! Okay! I was kidding!” he struggled and started to tickle him back. They went back and forth, the odd scream here and there before Chenle pulled him up and pushed him towards the door. 

“Sometimes you’re completely hopeless,” he said with a smile on his face. Jisung pinched his cheek as he headed out the door. 

“You should know that by now.”

“And like I said, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Jisung had been the one who wanted to at least visit the shelter down the road, and yet somehow Chenle had been the one squealing half the time. The other half of the time, he’d been amicably chatting with one staff in particular, as Jisung was in his own world petting a kitten. 

“I know you can see my name on my tag, but I never got yours?” the staff with the name tag “Taeyong” on it. The genuine joy he radiated as he’d offered the kitten to Jisung was refreshing in a way. 

“Chenle. And that’s Jisung,” he pointed at him. Taeyong nodded. 

“Good to know, because I’ll probably see you two here more often! Are you thinking of adopting?” They exchanged glances. 

“Fostering? Maybe?” Chenle suggested before Jisung could say otherwise. They hadn’t previously figured out a compromise, but he’d be lying if he said fostering honestly wasn’t a bad idea. He mentally gave himself a pat on the back.

“Amazing! We could always use more foster parents these days. It’s hard, but it really is a joy,” Taeyong beamed. 

“What is it like?” Jisung gazed up at them from his spot on the floor, another kitten clambering into his lap. Chenle scooped up the other one into his, sitting opposite him. 

“Depends on who you take in and for how long. I’ve had some angels, I’ve had nightmares,” Taeyong explained. “Mostly nightmares if I’m honest, but in a good way. Nice nightmares. The little rascals,” he let a kitten bite at his shoe, as if to prove his words true.

“Ah. What’s the process like then?” Chenle asked, Jisung’s eyes widening in mild shock. He zoned out momentarily, heart pounding, before the kitten clawed at his hand to keep on petting it. 

“We’d have to ask you some questions first, you know- get a gauge of how suitable you are. And then go see your accommodation...routine stuff.” Chenle nodded, unaware of the puppy eyes he was receiving, and now gradually getting more and more mesmerized by the tiny mewling being in his lap. A thought briefly crossed Jisung’s mind as he observed the two, but he was quickly distracted again. 

“It’s cute,” he mumbled, not quite sure who he was referring to. Possibly one more than the other. 

“I’m required to supervise you, but I’ll be just there cleaning out some cages, alright?” Taeyong leaned down to peel the kitten off his shoe. “I trust you two won’t harm them anyway, but I also don’t want to lose my job.”

“Thank you,” Jisung smiled, his attention almost immediately split again between the kitten and Chenle. If he were younger, he might’ve said he was alone with three kittens- he giggled at that thought. Now one had grown up. 

He found his gaze wandering over to Chenle, specifically his face; something he might call home, at least for his eyes. Both of them seemed to be unconsciously smiling, for different reasons. 

“‘Just get some sleep,’ you said,” Chenle tried his best to mock as Jisung fetched a spare blanket they never thought they’d need. “‘It’ll go away in the morning,’ you said.” Jisung smirked, throwing the blanket over him.

“I can’t take you seriously with that voice.”

“What voice?” Chenle said weakly, suddenly having another coughing fit. 

“If you’re gonna die, do it quietly,” Jisung cheekily said knowing full well Chenle couldn’t be bothered to sit up and slap him. “You may get a pass from work today but I don’t.” He once again tried to mock his voice in gibberish, but combined with his blocked-nose-voice, it came out more like pathetic sniffles. 

“Need anything else?” The urge to laugh was getting hard to hold at this point. As was another curiosity of his, but it would probably not the best to find out the answer to it whilst Chenle was sick. 

“Can you work in here? Keyboard tapping sounds are nice,” Chenle croaked. Jisung raised an eyebrow. 

“You know I barely just about get work done- what keyboard tapping sounds are there to speak of?”

“-you can sit up against the bedside,” Chenle had a satisfied smile on; something extremely hard to say no to. And his smile only got wider as he heard a fake exasperated sigh from the door, and soon enough, footsteps coming back carrying Jisung’s laptop. He sat by the bedside, but not before giving the duvet a good slap. 

“Tell me if you need anything _else,_ princess,” he grumbled. 

“Nothing for now, _love_ ,” Chenle snorted out a laugh. Though if he was being honest, he might be able to get used to that sarcastic impromptu nickname. And it might’ve just been because he was ill, but that morning was possibly the fastest he’d ever fallen asleep. 

He wouldn’t remember in much detail when he woke up, but Chenle had a dream. Everyone was neither child, nor teenager, nor adult. Immortal, you could say. And yet, childish laughter echoed throughout a nearly abandoned playground, eerily. He was part of that laughter, as was Jisung, Jeno, Donghyuck...even some long forgotten (for good reasons) classmates from school and college, and strangely despite his mind making them merely fuzzy shadows, he could identify all of them. The swing creaked loudly, and Chenle thought he could even smell the rust on its chains as he swung periodically, like the ticking of a clock. He took a glance to the sky; the sun had painted it in what reminded him of blood-red, with not a cloud. And it stayed like way perpetually, never fading to pink or waning to black. 

The second he swung back down, he looked down to a sea of red covering what was once sand. Laughter drowned out now, as if it was on the other side of the world. His screams were swallowed, and he couldn’t tell if he was screaming so loud that he’d made himself deaf, or that no sound was coming out at all. White noise completely consumed his surroundings, but he didn’t dare let go of the chains of time. Until a soft voice came from beside him, another dark figure on the same swing: Jisung. 

“So this is hell?” the familiar voice spoke. Hot tears began to boil in Chenle’s eyes 

“What do you mean?” he asked, strangled. Even though the shadows had no mouths and the white noise was drowning him out, he could still tell that Jisung had replied. But for once, their usual communication without words didn’t work. Disbelieving, he tried calling over the noise. 

“ _What do you mean?”_

It echoed, until the shadow disintegrated. 

Almost needless to say, he woke up in simultaneously hot and cold sweat, and a concerned Jisung peering over him.

“Are-” he was cut off as Chenle grabbed his shoulders, nearly making him fall onto the bed in a desperate hug. 

“I nearly lost you.”

“I’m right here though?” Poor Jisung said, confused, but hugging him back and ever-so gently patting his hair down. Chenle could melt to that touch. 

“Yeah, I know, but…” he rambled nonsense, to which Jisung merely sat by and combed out some tangles. 

“Does it mean anything?” he absent-mindedly asked, honestly only half paying attention to this story that was barely like the original. Chenle stopped in his tracks, slumping against his headboard, apparently too suddenly that Jisung let out an alarmed sound. A dull ache started to spread from the back of Chenle’s head. 

“I doubt it,” he drawled. 

“Maybe think about it when your mind is clearer then. Drink some water,” Jisung offered him the cup from his bedside. It slipped down his throat, cold and cutting. He gulped a breath of air and lay back down, contemplating. 

“I can tell you anything, right?” he brought the blanket to his chin. 

“Are you not already?” Jisung half-jokingly said, expecting another laugh in return, but instead his face turned more solemn as he observed Chenle’s slight pout and twitching foot. 

“What are we?” Chenle said quietly. “Have you ever thought about that?”

“We’re human,” Jisung answered very blankly, receiving a light slap on the arm. 

“You know what I mean.”

“Always.” They fell into a thoughtful silence. Chenle sighed and turned over so that his back was facing Jisung. 

“Maybe it’s just young excitement. New life, new excitement.” his stuffy voice came from the other side of the bed. Jisung blew a raspberry. 

“We’re hardly young anymore.”

“Physically, I suppose so. Mentally...that’s questionable.”

“Yeah, especially for you.”

“Especially for _you_ more like,” Chenle turned his head to see his reaction, a smug grin playing on his face. They bickered back and forth some more, before Jisung slid back onto the floor and Chenle flipped so that he was looking down on him from the bed.

“Do you think we could’ve been romantically involved in another life?” he bluntly asked, expecting either a very taken aback response or to be laughed at. Instead, he got another thoughtful silence. 

“Perhaps. Maybe.”

“Answer me honestly.” Jisung frowned exaggeratingly at him, hoping his ears burning up wouldn’t be too obvious. 

“You know I do.”

“Yes or no then.”

“How would I know?”

“Just pick one. It’s for science,” Chenle balled up some of the blanket in a fist.

“Y-yes? I guess?” Jisung’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Which one was I _supposed_ to say?” Chenle had adjusted himself so he was lying flat on his back, looking at the small cracks on the ceiling. 

“No wrong answer.”

“Implying we have another life together,” Jisung opened up a game on the laptop. 

“Don’t you think so?” he said, still staring upwards. “If we were cats, I wouldn’t be surprised if we spent all nine lives together.”

“And you say _I’m_ the one with the pretty words,” Jisung huffed, though not in a frustrated way. 

“Would you not like that then?” Chenle said deadpanned, still unconsciously gripping the blanket tightly. Jisung sighed and stopped frustratingly drumming his fingers on the keyboard. 

“I wouldn’t _mind_ it.” Chenle smiled wistfully, the furious keyboard taps and grumbling lulling him into a bout of more peaceful slumber.

A sudden “my head hurts, please kiss it better,” coming from the bed wasn’t quite what Jisung would’ve thought Chenle would say once he woke up again. That, and also the fact that it had shocked him so much that he missed a shot and lost. 

“Could’ve had better timing?”

“Well I’m sorry that my head doesn’t cooperate with the pace of your game. Which by the way, you suck at.”

“And yet how many times have you lost to me?” Jisung sat on the bed, placing a hand delicately on his forehead.

“... _I said my head hurts_ ,” Chenle mumbled after a moment of silence, before Jisung laughed and removed his hand. 

“Maybe not when you’re sick? Maybe?” Chenle thought for a second, with a sullen pout. 

“Hmf,” he grumbled, turning over. “It’s very warm in here.” Jisung got up and headed to the kitchen. 

“Not surprised- you were burning up. I’ll see if there’s medicine anywhere.” Chenle made a couple disgruntled noises but drank whatever water was left in the bottle by his bedside, and gulped down more once Jisung came back with some pills. He smacked his lips. 

“Better?”

“Of course not yet. But you know what has an instant effect?” Chenle said, still in a slight daze to Jisung’s amusement; it was a rare occasion that he was ill, and deliriously tired Chenle was always the funniest to him.

He recalled some college days where Chenle had somehow ended up sleeping draped over his chair in his dorm, with Jisung sleeping on the floor and Jeno on his bed. Despite waking up first, Chenle had tripped over Jisung and fallen asleep next to him again; the only reason Jisung was aware of this was because Jeno told him months later. And still, once he’d woken up properly, he wouldn’t stop talking about the most random topics unprompted, changing it without batting an eye. 

“What does?” Chenle frowned. 

“You were supposed to say ‘and I said, not when you’re sick’ or some bullshit,” he said Jisung’s part mockingly, sliding down the backboard so he was lying down again. Jisung shrugged, upturning his hands. 

“I said what I said and I meant what I said.” Chenle closed his eyes. 

“When’s lunch? Or dinner, or...a meal,” he said almost too calmly. 

“Ordered. You know I can’t cook shit.”

“That would be very unsanitary, yes,” Chenle’s lips pressed into a pretty smile, and Jisung slapped him gently on the chest. Just before Jisung was about to answer, he said, 

“I’m quitting next friday.” _There’s the random topic change_ , he thought. 

“Good for you,” he said, genuinely encouraging. “I’m proud.”

“What will I do after that though?”

“I mean…” 

“Kun? I know, and I’m _considering-”_

“He seems pretty advanced an-”

“We’ll see,” he said resolutely. Just then, the doorbell rang, and Chenle barely opened his eyes as Jisung went to go get it. He came back with some satisfying smelling boxes and Chenle sat up. 

“Bless you,” he said, recognising the smell and grabbing a box and chopsticks. Jisung opened up one himself, letting the steam out. 

“Food tastes better when you’re sick, right?” Chenle replied with a contented slurp, making him giggle. 

~~

It was some summer 10 years ago that they met. 

Happy laughter and scream should be making the young Jisung at least chirpy- and yet he stood by the entrance to a roller coaster, eyes shaking at the mere sight of the drop. 

“You sure you don’t wanna go?” one of his older brother’s friends had asked. Whether it was out of pity or genuine intent, Jisung couldn’t tell through blurred vision. He shook his head. “Up to you then. Stay out of trouble, little man,” he’d said, jogging up to his friends waiting in line. 

Jisung somehow stumbled over to a nearby empty bench, stained with paint splatters and possibly melted ice cream on the ground next to it. Head in his hands, he could barely hear the screams and cheers of joy from all directions.

Around the time Jisung guessed they would be on the rollercoaster, someone, about his age, sat down on the bench next to him. He looked up, and nearly couldn’t see his face from the large cotton candy.

“Are you lost too?” the stranger said cheerfully, munching away. Jisung wiped his face. 

“No. At least I don’t think so.”

“Then why so lonely?” the stranger answered, genuine curiosity and intrigue dancing in his eyes.

“I didn’t wanna go on...that,” Jisung gestured to the coaster behind them. “It’s scary.” The stranger’s mouth curved into an ‘o’ shape. 

“Why not? Why wouldn’t you wanna be on top of the world?” Jisung paused, not exactly knowing how to respond to that. “Oh yeah. I’m Chenle, by the way. I can keep you company, if you want,” the stranger held out a chunk of the cotton candy to Jisung, which he took. 

“I’m Jisung. You can wait here until...whoever finds you.” Chenle shrugged. 

“It’s okay. This place is huge anyway- have you been on the ferris wheel?” he rattled on, offering Jisung a piece of cotton candy every now and then. And he listened to this rambling quietly.

“...I heard there were bumper cars too! Wanna go find them?” Chenle said suddenly, jumping up from the bench. Jisung cast a glance to the rollercoaster; they could wait, couldn’t they? He nodded, taking Chenle’s outstretched hand in his own. 

Needless to say, his older brother had gotten a fairly severe scolding from his parents- but at least Jisung had gotten a phone number, written on paper from a cotton candy cone. 

~~

Perhaps an evening off was just what Jisung had needed, sitting up in bed and mindlessly scrolling through youtube, when Chenle entered and climbed on as well. 

“Did you not quit? You look tense,” Jisung said, observing Chenle’s face which was indeed, more hardened than usual. 

“Oh no, that went fine,” he replied. 

“Then…?” Jisung said, dropping his phone onto his lap. 

“I’m not feeling sick anymore…”

“Good for you,” he leaned over to get his phone charger. “That’s great.” Chenle rolled his eyes. 

“I thought you said you were done playing dumb and oblivious ever since you broke up with....what’s-her-face…”

“-don’t know. Don’t care,” Jisung replied bluntly, a couple repressed memories rushing back. They sat in a more awkward than usual silence, before Jisung finally said,

“You’re actually serious about a kiss?” Chenle shrugged. 

Jisung leaned in slightly, studying Chenle’s eyes with his own; they’d widened and almost seemed to glass over, glittering in mellow light. He stopped midway and tilted his head, mesmerised and lost. 

“Why are you like this,” Chenle murmured as his eyes flicked between his eyes and his lips, before he closed the distance himself. 

It was by no means Jisung’s first kiss, but somehow it felt like it- at first a freeze of all systems, then those bundle of nerves being melted with a touch and in its place instead a fuzzy warmth. 

It was also a short kiss, as Chenle pulled away after just a hasty press of the lips and still gripping gently onto Jisung’s left shoulder. And yet just a flutter of his eyelashes later, Jisung cupped his face and came back for more. 

“So what are we?” Chenle whispered between kisses. “I’m serious about that too,” he smiled into a kiss. Jisung retracted for a moment, not being able to resist combing back a piece of his hair which Chenle promptly flipped back. 

“I don’t care,” he finally mumbled. “I don’t know either. But at the least,” his voice started to rise slightly, though growing rather husky, “-at the very least, I’d like to call you my soulmate.” Chenle pressed one final kiss in reply. 

“Platonic or…?”

“Why choose?” Jisung tilted his head, warm breath brushing against his cheek. “If I had wanted to choose, I would’ve told you much sooner.”

“More like _I_ would’ve,” Chenle giggled, raising an eyebrow. 

“Yeah. You probably would’ve,” he laughed along and let himself naturally lean on Chenle’s shoulder despite him being taller; a little neck ache is worth it. “But on the other hand, remember that time-”

“Park Jisung, don’t you bring that up,” he waggled a finger threateningly whilst Jisung continued laughing, harder now. “I am past _those_ days now,” he emphasised every syllable. 

“But it’s just so funny how…” Jisung trailed off from laughter, now unknowingly clinging onto Chenle’s wrist. 

“Uh huh? Funny how what?” he said seriously before bursting into laughter himself and wrapping an arm around Jisung. He took a shaky breath to recollect himself.

“I wish nothing would change.”

“Who said it has to?” Chenle offered his right hand, palm up and resting on Jisung’s thigh. 

“Absolutely no one,” Jisung paused before firmly clasping their fingers. “What a stupid question.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!!  
> This was kinda an idea at the back of my head for a long time but i never considered writing it till now, really glad i did lol it helped me out of a bout of writer's block
> 
> Anyways in conclusion:  
> 1\. Support local animal shelters  
> 2\. Take life at your own pace  
> 3\. Platonic attraction isn't any "less" than romantic attraction, theyre just different (I hate the whole "more than friends" bs)  
> 4\. Chenji soulmates
> 
> Plith leave comments and kudos i survive on validation  
> (twitter is @itsmelidsy if you wanna find me there idk)


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